Disclaimer - Harry Potter is not owned by me. It is the wonderful works of J.K Rowling. Information found from hp-lexicon.

--

A/N: Crunchies! I am so sorry for not updating in months! As I mentioned I went overseas; it was amazing and I had not one moment to write! I am sincerely sorry! I recently started school again and I have been handed 10assignments(3 completed) and I have several exams coming up. I will try to write as much as I can through all of that, though. I'm extremely grateful for everyone who's stuck with me through all these months. And thank you for all these new reviewers encouraging me to continue writing!

Lady Of The Rogue - I know; things are about to make a change for the better though, for James.

SpAzZzZzAtTaCk - I finally updated! Hope you had fun on camp!

CassandraHeartsSirius - I'm glad! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you've enjoyed the others!

QuickNotesQuill11 - Thanks!

Mel - I'll try ).

Evilfurbykillre - Ok - I'll try saying 'First Year'. Hmm, in Aus we all say 'Year One', haha, but yeah I'll try. Thanks!

And now for what I hope should be an interesting chapter…

--

Chapter Seven

--

Lily and James walked out of professor McGonagalls office; Lily clutching a mop in her hand, and James holding a bucket filled with water.

"Great punishment, eh?" he said after a few moments of complete silence. They walked into the boys toilets on the first floor. Lily resisted the urge of replying to James. It was bad enough she had to spend detention with him after all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

The first thing that caught Lily's attention was what looked like handwriting on the toilet doors. She walked up to one of the doors and started to read.

"I wouldn't read those if I were you, they aren't that interesting." James tried saying nonchalantly, but Lily detected a slight sound of alarm in his voice and chose to ignore him. Her eyes flickered to the top corner of the toilet door, and she wished she'd taken James' advice. James Potter loves Lily Evans for life. She walked on to the next toilet door, pretending not to have noticed that little comment. Though as soon as she moved onto the next door, her eyes instinctively looked up to the same spot James' comment had been on the previous door, and was slightly surprised to see the same markings there again. It was then she decided to turn around and get back to work.

She turned to find James staring straight at her. And she blushed. For what reason remains a mystery to her.

"Lily, I - " he seemed to be struggling. He seemed to give up after a seconds thought.

"You seem to be doing that a lot," she commented while walking up to him and dipping the mop into the bucket of water. James looked at her strangely. She felt awkward. She wasn't comfortable being in the same room as him right now. She decided to divert her gaze from his face to the floor. She began mopping, while he just stood there.

"You do know that I'm…" he paused - expecting her to interject. But she didn't. Though she did look up at him suspiciously. Her auburn hair was all over her face. It brought out the green in her eyes and he found that all he could do was stare for a moment or two. He hoped the eye contact that they now shared would never end.

"That I'm sorry for everything that's happened between us in the past day…" he managed to say in such a deep, quiet voice that Lily had trouble understanding what he had said. She fixed her gazed to the floor for a second, much to James' disappointment. She was at a loss of what to do. Nod her head, or ignore him? She was a tad mean to him. I mean, he's only human… she thought to herself. She did, after all have a whole hour or two left with him before their detention finished - and then patrolling the corridors this evening. She couldn't stand things being this awkward when she had to spend so much time with him… She decided on nodding her head.

Though she immediately regretted it. She wasn't quite ready to forgive him for what had happened in the hospital wing. Or what had happened a few hours after that in the common room. It wasn't like her to be so forgiving. She usually needed a few fays to get over an encounter with Potter. Not this time, she decided.

The mood in the room immediately changed to a slightly less awkward one. Lily felt in a better mood than she had, and James felt a tad more hopeful

"Good. I was worried you'd stay mad at me forever…" said James, eager to see her expression. But she kept her head down and continued to mop the floor. It was obvious she wasn't going to engage in any conversations with him at the present time.

"Would you say I'm mature?" he asked her eagerly after yet another few moments of silence.

"No. And when you are, its all an act - because everything you say when your trying to be mature deteriorates." She had some bite in her tone which he chose to ignore. He needed this time with her to build on some kind of relationship.

"I'm sorry about that as well. Just for you, Lily, I'll stop being an annoying, immature prick." The sound of her laughter echoed through the room for a second, and he praised himself for being able to make her laugh.

"I've always wanted to hear James Potter admit he was a prick," she commented, turning around to stare at him with a twinkle in her eye.

That sure wiped the smile off his face.

"You aren't handling this in a mature way," he spat… which increased her amount of laughter.

"Since when did you know so much about maturity, Potter? A few seconds experience I believe has done you well."

He couldn't believe it. He was trying. For her. To be mature - and all she could do was make fun of him? He chose to ignore it, though his ego urged him to argue with her. But he was going to try and control that urge. He needed this to work. He forced a smile. She decided to smile back. She was obviously in a good mood. He began to wonder why… what if she liked someone who's name wasn't James Potter? Then he scolded himself. It was OK if she was in a good mood. It meant nothing like that. What was wrong with him?

"Time for the girls bathroom, I think."

"So we don't have to actually clean the toilets themselves?" asked James.

"I'm not going near those things," said Lily seriously. James laughed.

"So lets talk about this Christmas Ball."

"It's ages away…" said Lily confusedly.

"I know, but I can't get it off my mind."

"Ok. In that case, I think there should be two different dances."

"Why?"

Lily passed the mop to him, and James began to mop the floors of the girls bathroom.

"One for First Years till Fourth Years, and another for Fifth Years till Seventh Years. "

"Good idea. Just one problem… its a Christmas Ball. Which means it will have to be on at the same time on the same night… and if they're two different dances, then they'd have to be in different parts of the school…"

"Oh… well, the older grades can go in the Great Hall, and the youngsters can be outside by the lake?"

"Ok."

"I don't think there should be a theme; fairies, or dragons, for example. And if there is, no one will go by it. I think dress robes should suit."

"Ok."

"And we'll get onto decorations later."

She watched James work for a couple of minutes.

"Well, that's the first floor done," said James triumphantly.

"You missed a spot," laughed Lily.

"Where?" asked James. He turned and looked around.

Lily raced upstairs to the next bathroom, abandoning James with all the equipment, and laughing all the while.

A few minutes after she'd entered the bathroom, James followed, looking extremely bemused, and slightly horrified at the sight of Lily sitting on the bathroom floor with a huge smile on her face.

"You will so pay for that…" he muttered, shaking his head at her - though his voice was serious, his face betrayed him by hinting a slight smile.

"Sorry, what did you say?" She wished he could be like this all the time. She had no idea what had gotten into her in the past half hour. It was like all bad feeling towards Potter she possessed, had left her body. She didn't like it one bit, but she found being nice to Potter so much easier than being difficult. It felt as though she had spent her whole life being difficult, and now she just needed to have a break.

James walked over to the taps and turned one on. Lily walked over, wondering what he could be doing.

"I said," mumbled James quietly, so Lily moved a bit closer, "you will so pay for that." And without another word, he put his hands under the running water, and splashed as much water as he could gather all over her, with a huge grin on his face.

Lily stood, paralysed with shock for a few moments, her mouth hanging wide open. James couldn't contain himself. He burst out laughing. Lily, though still in shock, pulled her wand from her pocket, and said,

"AGUAMENTI!"

A great spurt of water came hurtling from the tip of her wand and splashed all over James. He began to laugh along with her, though their fun was suddenly cut short as a voice from the door of the bathroom interrupted them.

"Lily and James…" smirked Sirius.

Lily ended the charm she was using on James, and hid her wand behind her back. She spun around with a wicked grin on her face. James was still laughing like an idiot.

"Oh, revenge is sweet." remarked Lily.

"Prongs, what did you do to her?"

James exchanged his laughter for a grin, and replied, "I have no idea!"

Sirius shook his head and decided to leave them alone.

"It's definitely your turn to clean," said Lily slyly.

"Anything for you, m'dear."

Lily thought that last remark would have been better left unsaid, but went along with it anyway.

Things slowly deteriorated from there, and when they finally finished their detention in the seventh floor toilet, after what seemed like only a few minutes, neither of them really wanted to leave.

"Who ever came up with the idea of a toilet on each floor?" asked James stupidly.

"I know; it was a very a stupid idea." Lily stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair had dried off from when James had ever so generously sprayed her with water, and her clothes were still clean, which was a bit of a surprise. She turned to James, who was watching her. She blinked unsurely.

"Let's just leave this stuff here. I have to meet Rose at the lake right about now."

"I'll walk you down," said James eagerly.

Lily didn't object to this idea, much to James' surprise. He followed her out the door, and they walked side by side along the corridor. It was amazing how her anger from this morning had dissipated so quickly… they had had not one fight in the course of this afternoon, which was a definite first.

"Lily?" James was the first one to break the silence.

"Mm?"

"Have you ever considered me a friend?"

"No, not really."

"What about after this afternoon?" he pressed.

Lily didn't know what to say to that. It hadn't really crossed her mind. She had been so nice to him over the past few hours, and he to her, but she had never really thought that after that they may become friends, of all things.

"Um…" She supposed he wasn't that bad. After this afternoon she'd seen a side of him she'd never seen before. And she liked it. They had gotten along well, after all, and they were Head Boy and Girl together; how long could she continue to hate him? Hate. She didn't feel any of that towards him any more.

"I don't know. I suppose it would be the right thing to do, after all, we need to set an example…" James was a bit disappointed with her answer, but at least it meant that he had gotten somewhere with her this afternoon. He turned to look down at her, and saw her blushing slightly. She turned her face to look away from James. This stroked James ego a bit…

"You're absolutely right. Becoming friends would be the best thing to do." Lily looked up at him, and he smirked his sexy smirk which made Lily grow even redder. She nodded her head to one side, and James found himself over the moon. He was friends with Lily Evans!

"I can just tell we're going to be the best of friends," he said with a huge grin, while sliding his arm around her waist.

"Don't. Push it. Potter." she snapped through gritted teeth. He smiled and removed his hand from her waist, and replaced it around her shoulders. Which she allowed. Barely.

They soon found themselves walking along the lake. The afternoon sun was gleaming on the lake, and highlighted the colour in Lily's hair. He was still smitten with Lily, and found himself unable to do anything but stare at her with a triumphant smirk on his face.

Rose was in view; sitting underneath a Beech tree with none other than Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"Moony, Padfoot…" smiled James, plopping himself down next to his friends, much to Lily's annoyance. This was her time with Rose. She felt she had let herself go too far in allowing herself to be friends with James Potter, and her good mood had started to fade...

"I heard you two were getting friendly…" smirked Rose, exchanging a look with Remus.

"I never thought it possible." exclaimed Remus.

Lily sat in silence, clenching her teeth. She didn't want anyone taking this a step further. Rose saw the look on Lily's face and cheerfully changed the subject.

"So Remus, any girls in your life?" she asked, winking. It was always hard to tell when he blushed, because of his rosy cheeks, but now was one of those moments where his whole face turned a light shade of red; much to the amusement of Rose and Lily.

"Do we have to talk about my love life?" he asked desperately.

"We do now!" said Rose with a huge grin on her face. Rose pressed a few more questions on Remus, while Lily stared into the lake, not taking any notice to what was being said. James was watching her the whole time, with a happy heart.

"Where's Peter?" asked Lily suddenly. Her eyes widened slightly, and she looked from Sirius to Remus.

"No idea," said Sirius nonchalantly. Silence immediately followed. "Rose," Sirius said, "come with me." He stood up and reached for her outstretched hand. She grabbed it and he hoisted it up. And almost as if on purpose, he pulled her close to him so their bodies pressed together. Rose blushed in the presence of James, Remus and Lily.

"Sirius," she whispered, searching his grey eyes desperately with her light blue ones. He smiled and pulled away. "You three stay here and have fun. We'll see you later." He snaked his hand around Rose's waist and they began walking towards the castle.

"Well, what's happening there?" asked Remus.

"Not even Rose would tell me that. It's getting dark, I'm going inside for dinner." With that, Lily rose to her feet and walked daintily back into the castle, leaving Remus and James behind. She decided to go up to Gryffindor tower and clean up instead, since she didn't really feel hungry.

On her way she stumbled into a boy named Sean McWilliams, who was always nice to Lily… smiled at her, always asked her how she was… Great, she thought, I just happen to come across Sean and I look like… something very unpleasant.

'Hey Lily, how are you?' he smiled as he walked up to her. The same routine every time. He had light blonde locks, with a feminine look about him. She smiled back and answered,

"I'm fine thanks. Just got off detention with Potter."

"Tut tut," he smirked.

"How are you?" she smiled.

"I'm ok." he said awkwardly. Lily didn't know what to say next. She didn't think it was right to just walk away, so she stayed put.

"Potter bothering you again?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"You could say that. If detention wasn't enough, I have patrols with him tonight, until the early hours of the morning." she felt a slight pang of guilt about talking like that about Potter after she'd finally agreed to be friends.

"Why don't you just tell him you don't like him?" Lily started walking up to Gryffindor tower, and Sean followed.

"I have. Numerous amounts of times. Though he now has this crazy idea we're friends." She had no idea what she was saying. She had been the one to plant that idea in his head. Why was she saying this? She was confusing herself.

"I mean tell him you don't like him like… that."

"I do that too," she laughed. He smiled. She had no idea why her heart was suddenly beating so very fast… "But he just never gets the idea." she continued. She was acting like a goblin to poor James. But she just couldn't stop.

"Is there any way you could get the message across to him?" Sean asked. There was something in his voice that made Lily anxious.

"There could be, but I haven't come up with it." she looked at him and he came to a halt, so she stopped too and turned to face him.

"I have an idea…" He turned to face Lily and walked forward. Lily slowly walked backwards with a smile on her face. She soon found herself pressed against a wall. Damn it, she thought frantically. He stopped before her, and laced his hand with hers. Never would she have thought that she would find herself in this position with Sean. And her heart was racing. And her face was hot. And at that particular moment, an image of James Potter popped up in her mind. Sean was slowly closing the space between their lips, and Lily tried to push the image of James out of her head, because that was wrong - but to no avail. Sean's lips closed in on Lily's. But it all felt wrong. James was on her mind. Sean was kissing her. She was extremely confused and nervous. Though she kissed back.

Sean broke the kiss and smiled a huge smile at Lily, who smiled back.

"Walk you up to Gryffindor tower?"

"Sure."

--

A/N: Well, there it is. Sorry if it was a disappointment. I thought we'd get SOMETHING stirring after all this time. I'll try and update within the next month. I still have a number of assignments left to complete.

Love Ron Lover 2005